Michael and Judith had been loitering in the TransVerse reception dome for two days, whiling away the time while Laurie completed the return segment of her Mars visit. Laurie was the first of their family to venture off-planet; Michael and Judith had seen it as their duty to meet her, if not halfway, at least in Earth's orbit.
"Your daughter suffered a neuroschism on the way back, Mrs. Drein," a stout physiologist had explained.
Michael had interrupted with an explosion of questions. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Where is she? What on earth is a 'neuroschism?'"
"Your daughter spent the final months of the voyage in a stasis field..."
Judith flinched, hugged her jumpsuit to her thin frame. "We told her never to use stasis," she exclaimed. "What on Earth was she thinking?" She lost her footing on the spotless Velcro floor; Michael eased her to a standing position before she could drift off into the stark hemisphere of ceramic and crystal.
"Stasis technology is still in its infant stage," said a tall medic with ruffled blond hair and a sheaf of medical laserdiscs tucked under his arm. "But the medical community has no evidence to indicate it is harmful. We believe your daughter experienced an adverse reaction because of the neurostimulator we found jacked into her spinal column."
Michael gasped and pondered the pristine floor. He and Judith were well aware of their daughter's sole vice but hadn't anticipated her indulging in it during such a novel opportunity. She had been flown to Mars for an expense-paid interview with a prominent art guild - her foremost ambition ever since graduating from college.
Judith was the first to reply: "The idiot!" she shrieked. Passers-by glanced at her quickly then resumed traversing illumined catwalks and browsing through gift shops.
